Pimping on the run

[halfshellvenus]

The Idol poll is up for this week, with votes due by Thursday. rayaso is still playing-- his entry is here, with a link to the poll and all other entries at the bottom. Please read and vote if you can!

Our temperatures have dropped a little, and it's a huge relief. Friday through Sunday were near 100, and I got up so late on Sunday that I wound up

Comments

[halfshellvenus]

Summers are so awful here. In the worst years, they can start as soon as April/May, and they can last as late as early November. When the best thing you can say is, "At least it's not Phoenix," that's pretty sad. :O

Trackstands are great, because they allow you to bike indoors or in the garage during bad weather, and you just mount your regular bike on them. If you ride a lot (like I do), these help maintain your fitness not just for cycling but for the bike itself (the one you also use to ride outdoors). When it comes to things like seat and handlebar height and position, that helps a LOT. Plus, the A-Frame kind (which I use) can folds up flat and be no wider than about 6 inches.

Performance Bicycle has quite a few a good prices. There's a really basic one here that has great accessories (though I'm less enthusiastic about rear mag wheel and how long it might hold up). It says "trainer kit," but it's really a trainer plus accessories.

The kind I like are A-frames with that full crossbar in front, and rubber tips around anything that touches the floor. A metal mag-wheel in the rear, with adjustable tension (that knob at the bottom) and heat fins or other heat displacement (because the mag wheel gets HOT, and that's hard on your tires). And see those socketed clamps in the middle? You also want those-- they're the most flexible design, the easiest for getting the bike in and out, and if you eventually wear a groove in the mag wheel you can shift the position over a little and delay having to buy a new unit. ;)

The mat shown there is nice, but unneeded in the garage and a towel underneath the whole thing is fine indoors. I never use the adjustable speed thingy, because my bikes have gears! I use those!

And the block for the front wheel is good, so you're not tilting "downhill," but you can buy those separately. Cheap ones are fine. So is an unloved book. :O

Do not buy this thing. It's what I have now (nothing else was available), and the style of clamp sockets in the middle is awful. You can only adjust one side, and you have to wrestle the bike to get it in.

Something like one of those Blackburn trainers at Performance Bike, or like this or this would be fine, and not terribly expensive.

Geez, I really ratholed down into the research on this one, didn't I?

[spilledink562]

You most certainly seem to know everything there is to know about trackstands! It's actually great information and I appreciate you passing it along! I am definitely going to be looking into it since I haven't gone to my gym in months and honestly, don't know when I'll feel safe going back. Right now, I'm just planning on getting a weight bench and some cardio equipment, so this trackstand is a great idea. Thank you!

[halfshellvenus]

They're great for cardio, and they're your bike plus something you can store in a closet, if needed. SO much nicer (and usually cheaper) than a stationary bike.

I am a huge fan of things that fold down flat for storage. I once gave my sister a needlepoint Christmas angel picture I'd made (based on one we bought at a crafts fair), and the second thing she said after "It's beautiful!" was "And it stores away flat!"

Possibly our family is a little strange. Or pragmatic. My parents (now my Mom) and younger sister have a tendency to hang onto everything, and that seems to have prompted a tendency toward purging (or keeping things that take up minimal space) on the part of the rest of us. :O